TERA does offer some PvP, but not in the way you'd expect. At this stage, and I expect this to change as the game progresses, TERA only has duels, open-world PvP on designated servers, and deathmatch (team battles that can be held anywhere). There are no arenas and no real rewards for those players who enjoy the PvP aspect of MMOs.
Combat isn't the only thing TERA is revolutionizing. En Masse is taking Guilds to the next level with an all-new political system feature. At level 50, players have the option of becoming a Vanarch and running a province – setting the tax rates, opening specialty shops, adding skill trainers in remote locations, and reaping the rewards and benefits of holding political power.
Of course, getting this position doesn't come easy. Players interested in becoming a Vanarch must be level 50, be the leader of a level three guild with at least 20 members, and pay a candidacy fee of 3,000 gold and 100 Catharnach awards. For those of you who enjoy the lone wolf approach, you aren't left out of the political system. Just because you can't run for Vanarch doesn't mean you can't have a say.
Once a candidate opts to run for Vanarch they must campaign. This is where it gets cool; players must literally campaign to earn players votes. This means creating a campaign video online, paying people to vote for you, whatever you see fit. This is one feature I am looking most forward to – and we're in the midst of the first ever election. It truly is a unique aspect that rewards guild cooperation and makes the single-players feel included.
I can't help but feel guilds are almost a necessity in leveling. Towards the later levels, many quests require a group of players (hey, this is an MMO right?). This is to be expected, but I hate feeling forced to group. Sure, a LFG finder helps, but a lot of end game activities require a guild. This, of course, is all personal preference. For some, this is why they play MMOs – to meet others. For others, they see this as a hindrance and would prefer the option to group.
As far as looks are concerned, TERA remains one of the prettiest games I've played. Aside from impressive character models, the lush environments and vibrant colors are a pleasant change from the normally dreary world MMOs take place in. Character animations are fluid as you seamlessly perform skill after skill with very little delay.
In the end TERA doesn't revolutionize the entire MMORPG genre, but it does revitalize it. Combat and the political system, in particular, are a breath of fresh air, while En Masse falls flat in terms of story and questing. TERA improves on a lot of features already seen in previous MMOs, but after the shine of a new game wears off, you may begin to get tired of the old grind experienced so often in past titles.
In a day when more and more MMOs are going free-to-play, En Masse Entertainment is taking the traditional subscription-based approach with newly released MMORPG, TERA. Don't be fooled with the pricing model, however; TERA is anything but traditional.
In part one of my TERA review, I mentioned combat was the game's big selling point. As I progressed throughout the game, the initial sheen of new action-based combat wore off, but it was still a welcomed change to the traditional click and wait combat.
To refresh everyone's memory, TERA features high-paced action combat that relies just as much on player skill as it does character stats. You must aim properly and click to successfully attack your enemy. Each click performs a different attack in the combo. Add in some special abilities that can combo into other abilities for more damage and En Masse has created a nice little combat system.
In regular encounters you don't really appreciate the combat as much, but once you get into the later level dungeons and BAM (big-ass monster) encounters, you begin to see combat is a test of strength and endurance. It's not easy to actively aim, dodge, and counter a giant boss for 10 minutes.
Unfortunately, at this point, combat is really all TERA has in terms of gameplay that really differentiates itself from other MMOs on the market. Sure, En Masse does some things different and tweaks some standard MMO practices. For instance, gathering resources provides you with a slight stat boost like increased health regeneration or faster speed. They don't reinvent the MMO knife, but they sure do sharpen it.
I particularly enjoyed the glyph system. Glyphs are earned as you level up and are then spent to modify your skills. Rather than stat points or talent points, glyphs upgrade your skills allowing you to optimize your character for the role you intend to fill. You can boost certain abilities so you can get the most out of the skills you use most often.
In my first review, I hadn't yet run an instance or encountered a BAM. After a lot of grinding (unfortunately, the leveling does slow quite a lot once into the 20s), I realized the combat was a mask of otherwise normal gameplay. Instances are fairly standard – pull a group of mobs, tank pulls aggro, and DPS them down. It's not a bad system, but I would've liked to see them do something different to compliment the combat.
Questing in TERA is mundane at best. They attempt to interweave story into the grind, but unfortunately it falls flat. Regardless of whether you are on the story quest or the one's designed to give you chunks of XP, they all revolve around "kill 10 of these" or "gather 5 of those". Of course, with MMOs this seems to be the big problem of late. Even Star Wars: The Old Republic which did story the right way, still failed to overcome the lame "kill 10" mobs. In the end, TERA's poor attempts at short cut scenes come off if it was tacked on last minute.
